THE GUNDESTRUP SILVER VASE (or Cauldron) Discovered in I891 at the bottom of a peat deposit at Gundestrup, in central Jutland, Denmark
Ref.25
Note: I am trying to use a master model for work with all the deities. That would be useful min altar, ritual, worship, blessing, cursing or general Druidic "Draíocht" (magickal) works. Much Like I would do for the Lwa in Vodun or HooDoo. TDK
Name of God / Goddess:
Cernunnos > Latin for the Horned One. / 'Old Hornie'
In ? Languages
>>Accepting the common culture (with only unimportant dialectal differences in the common speech until well after the beginning of the present era) of Celtdom, we may take it that evidence of religious beliefs in one part of the sprawling Celtic 'sphere of influence' may be accepted as evidence that such religious beliefs were common to all Celtdom. Evidence of this kind is supplied by the altar dedicated to the Horned God, Cernunnos (Latinised Celtic, but so spelt on the altar itself), which was found, under the existing Christian altar of the cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris; the Celtic altar now being on display in the Musee de Cluny, in the same city. On the Cernunnos altar (the name means 'Horned One', 'Old Hornie'), (4) only the head of the divinity is shewn; a completely human head, as of a middle aged, bearded man, but with stag's antlers, on which are hung, one each side of the head, two torques, of a type commonly found in any museum of Celtic antiquities. ---- [4] The name appears in every variation throughout the area of Indo-European speech. This chief god of the Fertility Cult - the 'Devil' or 'Satan' of the later Witches' Sabbats - was (and is still) known in Ireland as Conall Cernac. His name is enshrined in both English 'Cornwall' and Breton 'Kerne' (the French 'Cornouaille'). Another example of what has happened in Paris, where the shrine of Cernunnos was 'rehabilitated' for the purposes of the New Faith, is to be found at Cerne Abbas, in Dorset, where, in Anglo-Saxon times, a large monastic foundation grew up upon the site (or, most probably, within the original buildings) of a Shrine of Cernunnos. Here it was that the learned AElfric, educated in the Romano-British city of Winchester (Venta Belgarum), translated the Pentateuch into Old English and wrote his famous Homilies. He was master of the monastic school at Cerne, and his Grammar, Homilies, Lives of the Saints and Translations from the Bible, were all written at Cerne between 987 and 998. Above now ruined Cerne, the great club-wielding (but no longer horned), ithyphallic Cernunnos still stands in chalk-white majesty - immense against the green hillside. Both the Latin proper name, Cornicen ('hornblower'), and English Hornblower recall ancient Cernunnos. ---- Not only the sophisticated workmanship of the altar, especially of its well-chiselled inscription, but also the fact that its temple was of such evident importance that a chief temple of the New Faith was built on the site of Cernunnos's, amply testify to the high standing of the Horned God throughout Celtdom<<
Ref. 12
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Genii Locorum: (The guardian deities of a place.)
>>Of course, many divinities retained their local names, either because there was no Roman equivalent – one thinks notably of the god bearing stag antlers, named Cernunnos, found on a bas-relief from Paris, whose image is well known from the Celtic provinces – or because the god in question had a topical and local dimension. In the city of the Convenae, one finds at least 60 gods with indigenous names, a diversity which, in the end, reflected the fragmentary nature of the lands and communities. One encounters a similar situation in the comparably mountainous regions of Galicia, which teemed with indigenous divinities very frequently flanked by Jupiter the omnipotent, father of the gods. Sometimes, the aura of these gods stretched well beyond the frontiers of the city, as seen in the example from the Germanic provinces of the goddess Sunuxal, studied by Spickermann (2001: 36). She possessed an important temple at Kornelimünster, yet her cult is also attested at Bonn, Cologne, and other locations. Such a widespread presence is most certainly explained by the goddess’s well-known powers, honored by Roman citizens throughout the second and third centuries ad. Of course, one must not forget that similar processes took place in the Greek east – one thinks in particular of the indigenous gods specific to the rural zones of inner Asia Minor.<< Ref. 14
The name appears in every variation throughout the area of Indo-European speech. This chief god
of the Fertility Cult - the 'Devil' or 'Satan' of the later Witches' Sabbats - was (and is still) known in
Ireland as Conall Cernac. His name is enshrined in both English 'Cornwall' and Breton 'Kerne' (the
French 'Cornouaille'). Ref 12
A Continental Celtic God of great importance and power.
Consort and Family:
Was Esus also Cernunnos?
>>In this passage, Mercury most likely represented the Celtic gods Esus (an earth god) or
Teutates (a god of war). The three main gods the Celts worshipped were Esus, Taranis (the sky
or thunder god), and the mother goddess. According to legend, this matronly deity married
Taranis and then Esus. She was usually depicted as a group of three richly clothed women—
Matronae/Matres/Matrae—who provided rich harvests as well as fertility. The mother goddess
often was given bynames that varied from region to region. The Gauls also worshipped other
minor gods such as Cernunnos, god of the underworld and of wealth, as well as other
mythological heroes including Smertrius, the ally and protector of Esus and the mother goddess.
Cernunnos was actually the earth god Esus during the winter season. According to legend, the
earth god was identified as Esus and was the husband of the mother goddess during the spring
when he was needed to promote agricultural growth. However, during the winter when he was
not needed to aid in vegetation he turned into a half-man, half-stag monster and become the god
of the underworld<< Ref. 27
Altar Pictures:
Altar Offerings:
Altar Sacrifices:
Drinks: Water (God of Streams and Fountains)
Fertility Symbols: (Human-Moon Seeds, Moon Blood; Other- Milk / Eggs or Eggshell)
Invoke for Blessing of: (Fertility, Prosperity, Protection, , Strength ).
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Nations Tribes Areas he /she was Worshipped or Honored:
For what reasons:
Animal or Totem Links:
The Stag (Hale Deer)
>>Now Cernunnos, whose etymology is the same as Hittite Kurunta and Runt(iy)a, from PIE
*ker52
, is by far the most famous deer related deity in Gaul, for instance ―on a monument
dedicated by Parisian sailors [Nautes pillar] in the reign of Tiberius53‖, or on the Gundestrup
cauldron.<< Ref. 23
Fish or Salmon.
>> A similar tale is told in Welsh of Gwion,2 who
tastes of the cauldron of inspiration, also without intent,
and who is thereupon reincarnated as Taliesin the bard.
In short, according to Nutt, the wonderful fish of Robert
is a Christian survival of a feature common to Celtic otherworld
tales, the magic food whereby a hero is made immortal,
and which enables him to be re-born. Its guardian,
the fisher, is, through the medium of Bran the Blessed, the
representative of the Celtic god Cernunnos,3 "from whom,
as Caesar reports, the Gauls claim descent, and who as god
of the otherworld and the shades was also god of knowledge
and riches." In other words, the Fisher King is ultimately
the Dis or Pluto of the Celtic otherworld.4<< Ref 17
Also snake with the head of a ram. Ref. 1, 11
Zagreus, the 'horned serpent.' Ref 17
>>Celtic Gods are interchangeable with certain animals or aspects in nature (and
which could be considered to resemble the European archetype behind the concept
of “internal Familiar” or “totemic” spirit). For instance, the Celtic God Cernunnos,
the Lord of the Animals;<< Ref. 29
Special Symbols or Veve:
Antlers Ref. 1
Snake with the head of a ram. Ref. 1
Torc:
>>The silver cauldron from Gundestrup is decorated with a number of gods
and goddesses. There is general agreement that these busts represent a
Celtic pantheon, with one of them depicting a god with the same attributes
as the Celtic god Cernunnos. He is characterized by his sitting pose, by his
antlers, and by the snake with the head of a ram. He is wearing a torc
around his neck and he is holding another one in his hand. This picture of
Cernunnos indicates that the torc was a divine attribute in the Celtic world
at this time.<< Ref. 11
Bag of Disk, Coins or Embryos >
Analogously, the round discs flowing out from the bag placed on the knees of Cernunnos in a monument from Reims, are not coins, but life embryos, since they flow between a bull and a deer symbolizing the reproduction of life. In fact Cernunnos echoes << Ref.10
>>The strange object, resembling a sack, which he holds on his knee constitutes
a third reason to conceive this figure as a god. Scholars have found
this object difficult to understand. I should like to point out, however, that
this is precisely the way fertility gods were depicted in Central Europe
during the first centuries A.D. An excellent example can be seen in picture
16, which represents the Celtic god Cernunnos with a similar sack in his
arms. The sack, from which a stream of coins is flowing, is a symbol of
fertility.<< Ref. 11
Sitting position and Legs:
>>He is characterized by his sitting pose,<< Ref. 11
Inter Cultural Connections:
Cernunnos, poster God for Christian Devil:
>>THE DEVIL
All societies must confront the existence of evil and attempt to solve, or at very least explain,
the dilemma. In the western world the Devil emerged as the ultimate personification of evil,
though the scope and nature of his powers and influence has waxed and waned over the
centuries. In the first millennium of the christian era, while present, the figure of the Devil
was relatively unobtrusive, of concern mainly to theologians and philosophers rather than
ordinary people. However, the image of Satan, the destroyer, began to take firm shape across
Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In parallel development with shifts taking
place in religious doctrine, as well as a proliferation of demonic imagery in Romanesque art,
the Devil was, quite literally, becoming a more visible presence in the world. Jeffrey B.
Russell has demonstrated that the christian concept of the Devil drew heavily from folkloric
elements and borrowings of characteristics from earlier traditions, such as those associated
with Cernunnos, the Celtic god of hunting, fertility and the underworld.16 Robert
Muchembled has noted that before the end of the fifteenth century, the Devil was ‘remarkable
for his variety’. In christianity’s long-standing battle against paganism ‘certain hard cores
resisted total destruction but were nevertheless gradually assimilated, cloaked in a new veil,
reoriented in a different context, while retaining a peculiar evocative power’. Fragments of
belief, from various ‘demonic cultures’ were submerged within a ‘rising tide of theological
Satanism’, but were not fully destroyed. Thus, the Evil One took numerous forms.17 By the
fourteenth century, the negative features of the Devil were greatly accentuated and his
frightening presence was moving out of the monastic realm and into the lay world. No longer
a metaphorical concept, artistic representations of the Devil and the kingdom of Hell quite
deliberately stressed ‘the notion of sin’ in order to provoke confession. The depiction of
Satan and the ‘related pastoral message encouraged not only religious obedience, but
recognition of the power of Church and State, cementing the social order by recourse to a
strict moral code’. Demonology, a ‘science of demons’, was slowly becoming defined in the
fifteenth century, which obscured, but in no way obliterated, folk beliefs about the Devil.<< Ref. 16
What powers does he have:
>>Cernunnos, god of the earth, of night and of death, identified with
Dispater, Pluto, Serapis.<< Ref. 20
Dis Pater-Cernunnos:
>>Dis Pater-Cernunnos and Terra Mater.--In R. Et. Anc. IX, 1907,
pp. 364-368 (fig.), G. GASSIES suggests that the altar of Saintes (R. Arch.
XVII, 1880, p. 337) shows Dis Pater and Terra Mater together, as the great
male and female deities. The god (Dis Pater-Cernunnos) with the horns
of a stag is the great god of the Celtic hunters, associated naturally with the
great earth-goddess. Cernunnos only later becomes a god of fountains or
streams. << Ref. 30
>>Dis Pater, or Dispater was a Roman god of the underworld, later subsumed by Pluto or Hades. Originally a chthonic god of riches, fertile agricultural land, and underground mineral wealth, he was later commonly equated with the Roman deities Pluto and Orcus, becoming an underworld deity.
Dis Pater was commonly shortened to simply Dis. This name has since become an alternative name for the underworld or a part of the underworld, such as the Dis of The Divine Comedy.
It is often thought that Dis Pater was also a Celtic god. This confusion arises from the second-hand citation of one of Julius Caesar's comments in his Commentaries on the Gallic Wars VI:18, where he says that the Gauls all claimed descent from Dis Pater. This, however, is of course an example of interpretatio romana: what Caesar meant was that the Gauls all claimed descent from a Gaulish god similar to the Roman Dis Pater, that is, a chthonic deity associated with prosperity and fertility. Different possible candidates exist for this role in Celtic religion, such as Gaulish Sucellus, Irish Donn and Welsh Beli Mawr, among others. Ref. 31
<<
(
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Tellus or Terra Mater ("Mother Earth") is a goddess of the earth. Ref.32)
Adolfo Zavaroni: Coins or embryos ? Remarks on three figures of Cernunnos
(Independent scholar, Reggio Emilia)
The purse held by the antlered god, usually identified with Cernunnos, of the bas-relief from Vendoeuvres, contains life embryos rather than coins, since the two boys standing on snakes at both sides of him are cupids involved in the generation of life.
Analogously, the round discs flowing out from the bag placed on the knees of Cernunnos in a monument from Reims, are not coins, but life embryos, since they flow between a bull and a deer symbolizing the reproduction of life. In fact Cernunnos echoes the Bronze Age great god conceived as Creator-Destroyer and ruler over the universal cycles.
Many clues drive us to suggest that Mercury’s purse too contains embryos rather than money. The Apollonian god with the lyre associated with Mercury and Cernunnos on the monument of Reims is a redeemer of souls. Playing the lyre, he can tame the griffins protecting the mysterious substance of life.
On other monuments a pàtera containing round disks, as well as the circle containing cupmarks on the petroglyphs, alludes to the reproductive power.
The squatting posture in which Cernunnos is represented alludes to his weak legs which can be transformed into the coils of a snake (Corfinium monument). The Latin Saturn, the Germanic Njordhr and the Welsh Math, who are chthonian gods of reproduction like Cernunnos, have analogous leg impediments. << Ref. 10
#
Note is this is true it shows a very advanced knowledge of Biology in ancient times.
>>Cernunnos the Horned One very ancient symbol of authority usually in Buddha stance best visual from Rheims where he is flanked by Apollo and Mercury in subservient positions - he holds a large bag from which streams money. Nearby are an ox and stag - domesticated and wild animals over which he is said to have had sway.<< Ref. 18
The Wild Hunt:
>>The ride of Santa Claus is almost certainly derived from the Wild Hunt legend which, in
Nordic tradition, is led by Odin (there is no direct evidence for the Wild Hunt in the
Norse mythological sources, but there is some indirect evidence)69. This Wild Hunt took
place around the Winter solstice, and was a fearsome thing, presaging death and
misfortune. The period of the Winter solstice was known as Yule to the Norse, and one
of Odin’s titles was, therefore, Hjol-foðr – Yule-father, or Father Christmas (the Celtic
god Cernunnos, the Horned One, played the same role as Odin in these hunts, and has
come down to us in Britain as Herne the Hunter). Thus, if we are looking for
equivalence between Santa and Thor, we are looking at the wrong god.<< Ref. 26
Is there a direct Druidic connection?
>> Birthplace Of An Old Religion
The question has been asked before, but never yet either fully, or seriously attempted to be, answered.
The first noteworthy fact to consider is that, whether or not Druidism was identical with the old
Religion - an aspect of it, shall we say? - both Druidism and the Fertility Cult in its specifically
Western form 'grew up together'. Possibly from as early as circa 1800 BC, but certainly from circa
450 BC, the Druidism of the conquering Celts and the Fertility Cult of the subjugated earlier
inhabitants were faiths in close and constant proximity. Perhaps more to the point, in assessing the
possible mutual influence on Druidism and what we might well call 'Western Fertility', is the fact that,
in all those places where Western Fertility developed its specific aspect ('witchcraft' of a later day), it
did so always and only in physical proximity to the Celts and their religion.<< Ref. 12
-----------------------
>>Caesar also says (6.18) that ‘The Gauls proclaim that they are all sprung from the same father,
Dis, and say that this has been transmitted from the Druids.’87 Dis Pater was the Roman god of wealth
and the dead and it is unclear to which god Caesar was referring. John Koch states that it could be
Sucellus in Gaul, and perhaps even Donn in Ireland.88 I suspect Cernunnos. In any case, the worship of
this god probably indicates some form of veneration of the tribal ancestor.<< Ref. 15
------------------
>>Prajapati and Western Horned Gods
Unexpected evidence of parallels between different myths and religions of the world came
from a discovery of a connection between the Indian creator God, Prajapati and the
Scandinavian horned god, Cernunnos<< Ref. 21
What is it?
>>One of the ways in which Druidry differs from modern Wiccan witchcraft is that
it does not posit a dual theology of one god and one goddess. Indeed it doesn’t
posit any single theology at all. Gods and goddesses are treated as heroes of story
and the spirits of place -- of river, rock, well, and tree -- are just as divine as any
pantheon of archetypal characters corresponding to social roles or crafts. The
Celtic gods and goddesses, such as Lugh, Brigit, Dagda, Boann, Cernunnos, Hu,
Taranis, Ogma, Angus Og, Cerridwen, and Arianrhod (among others) are
sometimes characters of legend, and sometimes spirits of place. In the case of
Lugh and Brigit, these are spirits of knowledge and craft and healing.37
Nevertheless, it is difficult if not impossible to identify a specific pantheon
of gods in Druidry<< Ref. 28
Witchcraft and Wiccan Connections:
>>Gerald Gardner (1959)[9]
Traditionally the God is viewed as a Horned God, associated with nature, wilderness, sexuality, hunting and the life cycle.[10] The Horned God is given various names according to the tradition, and these include Cernunnos, Pan, Atho and Karnayna.<< Ref 22
>>Witchcraft as a religion was superseded and frowned upon by Christianity in
Europe, as by Islam in the East. The second commandment prohibited any sharing
of altars, and the dethroned God was always referred to as anti-God, anti-Christ,
fallen angel or devil. The names of the pagan pantheon varied from district to
district, and, as the worship antedated writing, little evidence (beyond cave art)
remains. The horned God was a universal emblem of fertility. He was called
Cernunnos by the Roman occupants of Gaul-in English "Herne," or coloquially.
"old Hornie." In Northern Europe the ancient Neck or Nick (spirit) had such
a hold on the peoples' affections that the Church regularized his position by
canonisation as St. Nicholas. In Cornish depiction he still retains his horns.
The Lammastide Puck Fair at Killorglin, Co. Kerry, is a remarkable remnant of
paganism, where Puck, king of the wild goats, reigns over the saturnalia for a
week. The old religion was based on magic and witchcraft, and it is interesting to
note the many examples of magical interference mentioned in Scripture.<< Ref. 24
Pictures Cravings Images Idols . Dating references and their locations:
>>untry': pp. 1-2 . 11 Possibly with reference to the profile of The Wrekin, which resembles a pair of down-curving horns similar to
those of early cattle (which would not however explain other tribes of the same name in Caithness and Cornwall,
both on peninsulas which might be considered 'horns'), or perhaps because the tribe worshipped a horned deity of
the Cernunnos (stag-god) type: see Rivet & Smith 1979: 325. Or named perhaps from immigrants from one of the
Peninsulas<< Ref. 19
2000BC:>>The Horned God: Based on the universal symbol of the Bull, as the archetype of Nature's fertility,
here is the horned, three-faced (that is, omniscient), priapic God of Fertility from the buried city of
Mohenjo-daro, in the Punjab. About 2000 BC.<<Ref. 12
40BC
This is an excellent example of a"Horned One" tdk
A Celtic coin from about 40 BC showing a
sunwheel between the horns of the god, Cernunnos.
Cernunnos: Looking a Different Way
A great source of images! ref. 2
Invoke for Blessing of ____________________.
Invoke for Cursing of _____________________.
Main historic references:
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Some interesting Blogs etc:
Samhain: Season of Death and Renewal
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Reference List:
Notes: With the ease of word searches in downloaded reference sources were you see quotes in >> << I have elected to not try and give page etc info, please just do a quoted text search.
11) The Necklace as a Divine Symbol and as a Sign of Dignity in the Old Norse Conception
JA MacCulloch, J Máchal, LH Gray - 1918
14) A companion to Roman Religion
15) Discuss in detail the religious beliefs of the ancient Celts paying particular attention
